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360 sphere photo panoramas with mini2- who can explain how to do it?
30004 30 2021-1-31
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fans244ae367
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Flight distance : 234108 ft
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I've spent a LONG time hunting the internet for the most straightforward method of how to use the Dji Mini 2 sphere photo panorama images and there is just zero useful info out there currently.
Those that are doing it successfully, can you PLEASE list out your process and software, particularly for Mac computers and ideally using only free software, because there must be a way.

I'm currently:
Shooting sphere photo in the Mini 2 with automatic settings, not trying to do anything manual capture or anything fancy.
Transferring this to my iPhone from the drone through the DJI Fly app.
Upoading this to Google StreetView from the iphone.
This works for StreetView only, not facebook, and no online applications if I airdrop that image to my macbook pro.

However, when I put the 26 original images from the camera card into DJI Media Maker, it gives me a flat image of the sphere (below). rsz_100_0008_20210131081055.jpg
Dimensions: 9504 × 3427
I can't find any platform that will accept this image, Skypixel, Streetview and others say something along the lines of "The image's aspect ratio should be 2:1". I know there are a couple of ways to change this through metatdata (none of them successful by me) but surely this isn't a necessary step??!!
I have photoshop, and when I put the 26 images into the automatic stitcher (File>Automate>Photomerge) it will line them up correctly, but not in a useable manner, I end up with an image that is more 3:1 than 2:1 and again, trying to upload it to any site gives me the same issues as going through Media Maker.
I've tried Hugin (for mac it's a horrible interface), and it can't work out how to stitch them together correctly.
Even the 360 photo hosting site Momento 360 will paste them together, but the horizon is all out of whack so the image looks like you're viewing inside a goldfish bowl.
THERE MUST BE A FREE AND EASY SOLUTION!? I know that there's paid software, but some of it is almost half the price of the drone!

It would also be amazing to have a walkthrough of how to do it with DNG images, as the standard jpgs stiched together by the DJI Fly app are pretty low quality!

Help!


100_0056_20201207183639.jpg
2021-1-31
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fans244ae367
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Not sure how that second picture got uploaded, is also through DJI Media Maker, you can see the distortion well at the bottom of the image, I imagine that's a completely separate issue unless that disappears when successfully viewed as a spherical.
2021-1-31
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sbonev
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not sure there is an easy and cheap way to do it - i first do the dng processing in photoshop camera raw. after i save the edited jpgs i use ptgui for stitching the photos. the result is pano in format 2:1, however the sky is black, as due to the gimbal limitations the camera cannot get pictures of the upper part. I recreate this in photoshop with content-aware fill, after that i open the image in 3d layer and look at the sky for deformation and unwanted effects, color differences and fix them with content-aware fill. bear in mind that sometimes in order to be recognized as 360 photo you need to edit the exif data and manually set the projection type as equirectangular. however usually after the 3d layer editing in photoshop the export takes care of that.
2021-1-31
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SalaEE
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Free and easy solution
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/product/computational-photography-applications/image-composite-editor/
2021-1-31
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fans244ae367
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Sbonev: What a nightmare! Thanks very much for the detailed outline, I don't know how you have time to be on here if that's what you're doing with each image! How do you find time to eat?
SalaEE: I've heard good thing about ICE but am looking for Mac/iPhone compatibility.

Ok at this point I'm happy to pay for some software to take care of it (I'm thinking a budget of $30-$50 SHOULD be enough). I wanted to find the free sensible solution as I figured it must be out there, now I give up.

It would still be great to hear everyone's Mac/iPhone/free process if they exist, now also opening up the floor to recommended programs that will take the headache away and do it all automatically. Thanks in advance!
2021-1-31
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sbonev
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fans244ae367 Posted at 1-31 14:27
Sbonev: What a nightmare! Thanks very much for the detailed outline, I don't know how you have time to be on here if that's what you're doing with each image! How do you find time to eat?
SalaEE: I've heard good thing about ICE but am looking for Mac/iPhone compatibility.

well it is straightforward once you do it couple of times, also now is winter so not much flying anyway . Actually it is relatively fast, the only issue is the content-aware fill on the sky and sometimes photoshop gets crazy...and especially the 3d workbench is really heavy on the hardware...But so far that is the best result i achieved. If you want something fast and easy, most definitely it won't be that good, and more often not in the correct format. there is no way to get this on iphone....only from dji fly app, but quality is beyond pathetic.

you can avoid the ptgui part, but if you want to create it from dng photoshop is almost the best bet. though you can do the processing in lightroom on iphone also. instead of ptgui you can use the microsoft ice and hugin they are free, but not as good as ptgui, on hugin i think you have to play with the control points in order to achieve good result. also in photoshop you can stitch but then you have to add the sky to fix the 2:1 ratio and it will be more tricky.

here is a link to check my 360s - all are made like that, only the last one from the mini 2 raw files though.

https://www.skypixel.com/users/sbonev
2021-1-31
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fans244ae367
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Your pics are awesome but my god this is a nightmare!

I have a Theta 360 cam and it couldn't be simpler for processing, just export from the camera and it's all done. Finished. 30 shots takes about 10 minutes of messing around in total.
I was REALLY expecting there to be a non manual way of doing something similar for the Mini 2 (it is the most consumer drone after all!). How have drones come this far without having a free app to process the snaps! Madness!

I guess now I need to know what the cheapest software is that will do it well!
2021-1-31
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djiuser_NoUsCWsFHOkz
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It’s supper easy I did it on my first flight. Just click on the picture on the dji fly editor and it will create it on its own.
2021-1-31
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djiuser_NoUsCWsFHOkz
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Flight distance : 15410 ft
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It will auto stitch the photos for you.
2021-1-31
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djiuser_NoUsCWsFHOkz
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https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=223389&extra=&page=2#comments
2021-1-31
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DJI Stephen
DJI team
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Hello there. Thank you for reaching out and for these information you have given. I hope that you can get the best recommendation from our fellow DJI Co pilots on what stitching software they are using to create the said panorama. In addition I will post a DJI Forum link with regards to this inquiry as well. Thank you.

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=234393
2021-1-31
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sbonev
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djiuser_NoUsCWsFHOkz Posted at 1-31 18:47
It’s supper easy I did it on my first flight. Just click on the picture on the dji fly editor and it will create it on its own.

quality is rather horrible, that is the main issue. it is so bad it is not suitable even for facebook. I'd rather spend 1 hour stitching the original raw images than use the out of the app ready pano...
2021-2-1
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fans244ae367
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DJI Stephen Posted at 1-31 19:58
Hello there. Thank you for reaching out and for these information you have given. I hope that you can get the best recommendation from our fellow DJI Co pilots on what stitching software they are using to create the said panorama. In addition I will post a DJI Forum link with regards to this inquiry as well. Thank you.

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=234393

Yeh I read that, but it doesn't answer my questions... you might notice that I'm the last person to comment on that thread already.
2021-2-1
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fans244ae367
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djiuser_NoUsCWsFHOkz Posted at 1-31 18:47
It’s supper easy I did it on my first flight. Just click on the picture on the dji fly editor and it will create it on its own.

Yeh thanks. Unfortunately, as we've discussed, the photos look rubbish doing that!
2021-2-1
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fans244ae367
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Maybe someone can find a working serial for Autopano Giga 4.4 FOR MAC and we'll see if that solves it, unfortunately I can't find a serial online and it's not sold anymore.
2021-2-1
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fans244ae367
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Flight distance : 234108 ft
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And I've just discovered this process STILL won't allow you to upload on Facebook as a sphere...
2021-2-1
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sbonev
Captain
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fans244ae367 Posted at 2-1 09:51
And I've just discovered this process STILL won't allow you to upload on Facebook as a sphere...

check format is 2:1 and exif data holds projection type set as equirectangular!!! if one of these is missing you won't be able. also you have to do it from the phone....from browser does not work.
2021-2-1
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fans244ae367
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sbonev Posted at 2-1 10:06
check format is 2:1 and exif data holds projection type set as equirectangular!!! if one of these is missing you won't be able. also you have to do it from the phone....from browser does not work.

OMG I just went down a rabbit hole of exif nonsense, can't believe how un-user friendly all the programs are. Even Facebook's equirectangular PS templates don't work.

This whole thing is a joke! I can't believe how badly the process is designed... or not designed at all I guess!
2021-2-1
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sbonev
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fans244ae367 Posted at 2-1 10:32
OMG I just went down a rabbit hole of exif nonsense, can't believe how un-user friendly all the programs are. Even Facebook's equirectangular PS templates don't work.

This whole thing is a joke! I can't believe how badly the process is designed... or not designed at all I guess!

there are a lot of programs for pc. on iphone and mac is harder, on iphone you can't see it most of the times i think.
2021-2-1
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Mavic57pro2
Captain
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I use Bimostitch on an Android tablet, the 26 photos that make up the Pano can be stitched into a 31mp pano very easily, takes about 10 minutes to process and the result is very good compared to the DJI app.

Obviously those looking for the ultimate need to use the dng files and a PC or Mac for processing.
2021-2-2
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Dakster
First Officer
Flight distance : 378196 ft
United Kingdom
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There's been several mentions in different threads of "Microsoft ICE" does anyone know of a safe download location for the 64bit version? Microsoft appear to have removed it from their site as its old defunct software
thanks in advance
2021-2-12
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DimmyV
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Flight distance : 2319557 ft
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You can download virtual box and then download windows ISO for free and run windows off a USB stick and then just download ICE. that way you avoid partitioning the Mac hard drive and can run windows programs.  Im tempted to do this but I too have this issue. Im using the DJI fly app for now despite the quality but once I figure out workflow then I use this going forward.
I currently run windows 7 off USB and works fine. Windows 7 also the best, I hate current version of windows.
2021-5-18
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djiuser_Ms28ntCVSju1
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I had the same issue - Did a little online searching, I found this video and link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJA0f-F5Ijs  and  https://exiffixer.com/app.html
2021-6-18
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Johnny_J
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fans244ae367 Posted at 2-1 08:53
Yeh thanks. Unfortunately, as we've discussed, the photos look rubbish doing that!

Could you please demonstrate a rubbish picture and compare it with the hand-processed same picture?
2021-8-7
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CentralCoasty
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1) Take one of your original images above, and open in Photoshop. (DJI Media Maker does this stitch for you, as you mentioned)2) Select Image>Image Size>
3) Click chain icon to unlock aspect ratio.
4) Change height value to equal width, and click OK.
5) Select Image>Image Rotation>180.
6) Select Filter>Distort>Polar Coordinates.
7) Be sure Rectangular to Polar in selected, and click OK.
8) Select Image>Image Rotation>180.

I hope that helps. Enjoy!

2022-2-10
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No Original Thought
Captain
Flight distance : 1364209 ft
United Kingdom
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If anyone is looking for a download if DJI Media Maker - which is discontinued - I found the following links to download direct from DJI:

PC: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/osmo/DJI_Media_Maker-x64-en.exe

Mac: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/osmo/DJI_Media_Maker_1.0.2_Installer_en.dmg

-N.O.T.
2022-2-10
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Russ Pinder
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Ok - so here's how I did it
1. Open images in Lightroom
2. Use Lightroom's merge to panorama function
3. From LR goto edit in Photoshop
3.5 Resize to longest edge 16384 if uploading to Kuula later
4. In PS expand canvas size to 2:1 ratio with original anchored to bottom - The dji pics dont include directly over the drone so this has to be filled in manually
5. Fill blank area with contentaware fill or by warping the upper section of your sky
6. Save (saves to LR)
7. In LR export
8. Take exported file and run through Exit Fixer (free software)
9. Resultant file is WAYYY too big to upload to FB so upload to another sharing site _ I like Kuula
10, share to FB from Kuula.
2022-4-10
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fans244ae367
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Russ Pinder Posted at 4-10 07:56
Ok - so here's how I did it
1. Open images in Lightroom
2. Use Lightroom's merge to panorama function

It boggles my mind that there isn't just a straightforward way to do this!
I feel like everyone but me must be taking crazy pills!
2022-4-10
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Yaros1
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I use Kuula to upload, view, and share my panoramas.

2022-4-10
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Russ Pinder
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fans244ae367 Posted at 4-10 11:09
It boggles my mind that there isn't just a straightforward way to do this!
I feel like everyone but me must be taking crazy pills!

If you just want to share to FB you might as well just take the low res 360deg that the App produces as FB wont display anything better anyway.
2022-4-11
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Drone Come Home
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I downloaded the App "Tiny Planet Photos and Video" on the Apple App store for $.99 ( iPhone & iPad) Then import your sphere photo and you can create a few "sphere worlds" for free, or upgrade for even more special effects. Save the file which can be uploaded to TikTok, Instagram, etc.
2022-4-26
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